A 38-year-old Russian founder of a cryptocurrency payment firm has been charged by the United States Department of Justice for the operation of a multi-million dollar money laundering scheme.
According to a DOJ statement released on June 9, Iurii Gugnin, the New York-based founder of crypto firm Evita is facing a a 22-count indictment for charges revolving around the use of his company to funnel more than $500 million in illicit funds.
Prosecutors allege that Gugnin moved the funds through the U.S. financial system to support transactions for sanctioned Russian banks, defraud American financial institutions, and aid the export of controlled technology to the Russian government.
The founder is also accused of deceiving banks and crypto exchanges by hiding the true nature of Evita’s business, falsely claiming that his company had no dealings with Russian entities or sanctioned organizations. Additionally, Evita failed to implement required anti-money laundering controls and did not report suspicious activity, enabling illegal transactions.
If convicted, Gugnin faces up to 65 years in prison for each count of bank and wire fraud, money laundering, failure to implement anti-money laundering measures, among others.
Iurii Gugnin’s charges come as the DOJ ramps up its crackdown on illicit crypto activities. Just days earlier, the agency filed to seize nearly $7.74 million tied to a similar laundering scheme run by North Korean cybercriminals. The funds, in that case, were linked to individuals and entities using false identities to gain employment in U.S.-based companies. The proceeds were then funneled through a coordinated laundering operation involving tactics like chain hopping and token swaps to obscure the origin of the funds.
Commenting on Gugnin’s charges, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division Roman Rozhavsky emphasized the commitment of U.S. law enforcement agencies to fishing out bad actors. “Let this serve notice that using cryptocurrency to hide illegal conduct will not prevent the FBI and our partners from holding you accountable,” he said.
